Text - Alignments

The Attributes group on the text feature property page defines how you wish your text to be initially positioned on a survey or a model.  In a model, you have the option to edit these values later.  The X Offs and Y Offs fields define the offsets of the text string from the point.  The units used are in millimetres at the view or plot scale.  You do have the option to angle text, either using a specified angle or using the direction of line features.  If an angle is used, offsets are applied parallel and perpendicular to that angle.  The Alignment field defines how the text is to be angled.  There are twelve possible settings for this field.

Normal - The text string will be displayed horizontally using the offsets to position the text relative to the point.

Angled - The text string will be displayed at an angle, defined in the Angle field.  If the point has an angle dimension, normally A, this will override the value in the angle field.

Parallel - The text string will be displayed using the direction of the two feature string segments on either side of the point.  The calculated angle is an average of the directions of the two segments.  If the point is the first or last point on an open feature, the angle used is that of the first or last segment.  Only the Y-offset value is used to position the string and the text will justify about the bottom centre of the text.

Parallel Leading - The text string will be displayed using the same angle as that of the feature segment leading into the point.  Both offsets will be used and the text will justify about the bottom right of the text.

Parallel Trailing - The text string will be displayed using the same angle as that of the feature segment trailing after the point.  Both offsets will be used and the text will be justified about the bottom left of the text.

Perpendicular - The text will be displayed using the perpendicular directions of the two feature string segments on either side of the point.  The calculated angle is an average of the directions of the two segments.  If the point is the first or last point on an open feature, the angle used is that of the first or last segment.  Only the X-Offset value is used, and the text will be justified about the middle left of the text.

Perpendicular Leading - The text string will be displayed using the perpendicular angle of the feature segment leading into the point.  Only the X-offset will be used, and the text will be justified about the top left of the text.

Perpendicular Trailing - The text string will be displayed using the perpendicular angle of the feature segment trailing after the point.  Only the X-offset will be used, and the text will be justified about the bottom left of the text.

Centred Parallel - The text string will be displayed using the angle of the feature segment trailing after the point.  Only the Y-offset will be used, and the text will be justified about the bottom centre of the text.  The text will also be positioned halfway along the feature segment that is trailing the point.

Centred Perpendicular - The text string will be displayed using the perpendicular angle of the feature segment trailing after the point.  Only the X-offset will be used, and the text will be justified about the middle left of the text.  The text will also be positioned halfway along the feature segment that is trailing the point.

First and Last - Text strings will only be displayed on the first and last points of a feature.  For the first point, the text will be displayed as though it is Parallel Trailing.  For the last point, as though it is Parallel Leading.

3 Point Text - Text strings will be displayed using groups of 3 points.  The first is the bottom left, the second is the bottom right and the third is the top of the text.  The text will be stretched to fit within the rectangle created from the 3 points. The text that is plotted is controlled via the Text Field, or more likely the T attribute.  This is usually setup via a Choice List so that common road markings for instance are already on the logger for easy selection. The example below would be stored via the attribute T=L'BORO attached to the first of the three.

Normal	Angled	Parallel	Parallel Leading
Parallel Trailing	Perpendicular	Perpendicular Leading	Perpendicular Trailing
Centred Parallel	Centred Perpendicular	First and last	3 Point Text

The Position field can be used to define where the text is to be placed relative to the point.  It only applies to the Normal and Angled alignment options. The indicated position is not the justification point for the text. In fact, it is the opposite.  For instance, if text is to be placed to the top right of the point, the text will be justified about the bottom left of the text. The X and Y offsets are not always used and will be made negative for certain positions.